Two men are released from prison after having served their sentences. One is determined to go straight and stay out of trouble, but his fellow ex-con has other ideas, and his plans wind up spelling trouble for both of them.

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Two men are released from prison after having served their sentences. One is determined to go straight and stay out of trouble, but his fellow ex-con has other ideas, and his plans wind up spelling trouble for both of them.

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The good things to recommend in D.W. Griffith's short film The Narrow Road are that 1) it's one of the early inspirations for the 'gangster' genre (it's featured as the opening short for another gangster silent film on 'the Origins of Gangster films' from the library of Congress); 2) it contains early signs of Griffith's revolutionary use of cross-narrative storytelling (one thing going on one place, cut to another, and then back again, taken for granted in modern cinema); and 3) how it deals with common people and how they deal with a crime. The story is simple, very simple (man just released from jail, his love, and a suitcase with trouble following it), and the title-cards are the most straightforward bits into one's psyche (i.e. the criminal at the bar, "The crook's inducements almost weaken him"). Aside from curiosity and Griffith aficionados, it's not something one would usually watch just for the hell of it. But for a seventeen minute short film, it could be a lot worse- in fact, it gets a little exciting for the climax, and has some sturdy cinematography for the times.

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